St. Louis Cardinals (47-41, third in the NL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (52-35, first in the NL Central)
Chicago; Friday, 2:20 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Miles Mikolas (4-5, 4.76 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 56 strikeouts); Cubs: Colin Rea (5-3, 4.37 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 56 strikeouts)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cubs -157, Cardinals +131; over/under is 10 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals come into the matchup with the Chicago Cubs as losers of three in a row.
Chicago is 52-35 overall and 28-15 in home games. Cubs hitters are batting a collective .255, which ranks third in the NL.
St. Louis has a 47-41 record overall and a 21-24 record in road games. The Cardinals have the 10th-ranked team ERA in the NL at 3.94.
Friday’s game is the fifth time these teams match up this season. The season series is tied 2-2.
TOP PERFORMERS: Seiya Suzuki has 20 doubles, three triples and 23 home runs for the Cubs. Nico Hoerner is 10 for 34 with three home runs over the past 10 games.
Willson Contreras has 19 doubles, 11 home runs and 51 RBIs for the Cardinals. Nolan Gorman is 9 for 38 with three home runs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cubs: 6-4, .262 batting average, 3.41 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs
Cardinals: 5-5, .234 batting average, 4.03 ERA, outscored by two runs
INJURIES: Cubs: Miguel Amaya: 10-Day IL (oblique), Eli Morgan: 60-Day IL (elbow), Javier Assad: 60-Day IL (oblique), Justin Steele: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Cardinals: Nolan Arenado: day-to-day (finger), Willson Contreras: day-to-day (hand), Jordan Walker: 10-Day IL (appendicitis), Ivan Herrera: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Zack Thompson: 60-Day IL (lat)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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